Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Stephanie Perkins

Dutton

[September 29, 2011]

Budding designer Lola
Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more
expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the
better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted
daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything
is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the
dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin
sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a
lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

I think...maybe, I prefer Lola to Anna.

Lemme explain. Lola was wonderfully quirky and sweet and naive. She reminded me of my friends and a little bit of myself. Artsy and smart and unique with a bit of rebellion. I love Lola and I love her best friend and I love her dads and I love the fact that Anna and St. Clair were back and played bigger roles than I thought they would.

Cricket was another amazing character. He was, like St. Clair, not just a simple boy. He was complicated and silly and a genius and almost as quirky as Lola. Cricket was just absolutely adorable and wonderful and can I have him please?

Stephanie Perkins said Lola was a REALLY difficult book for her to write, so can I give her a round of applause? The writing was fantastic. I spent my day when I should've been cleaning, reading. It was a one day, two sitting read. And I just want to erase it from my memory and read it all over again. I also loved the subtle hints about Isla and the Happily Ever After. Not so subtle you'd definitely miss it (obviously), but enough that you CAN miss it if you aren't wondering.

The story was exactly what I was looking for. I want more stories like this, where it's a boy who's a friend and he really likes her and the problem isn't life threatening. Adorable little romances with a deeper undertone.

I deeply, truly loved this book and I cannot wait to see what Perkins has for us in the future.

1 comment:

Cricket's pinstriped pants were the original reason she started liking him. Lola was not as funny as Anna, and San Francisco just isn't as romantic as Paris. Also, Lola was a bit more...erm, daring lets say with relationships which I feel most teenage girls can not relate to. I liked that Anna and St Clair were brought back though. Also, I didn't like having it on my shelf because the creepy stare of the purple hair girl freaked me out. I did not like it that much because the average reader can not relate to Lola, because Lola is not like the average girl. It was written well, but as mentioned previously, it can not compare to Anna. An okay read.